In re Samantha C. CA2/2

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. The Family

Mother has eight children—seven with Gerardo C. (ex- husband), and her youngest child with Albert H. (father). This case involves the five youngest children—namely, (1) Samantha C. (born July 2005), (2) Ruby C. (born January 2007), (3) Jessica C. (born January 2008), (4) Katelynn C. (born September 2011), and (5) Stephanie H. (born December 2013).

II. Domestic Violence Incident

In September 2022, father and mother started yelling at each other outside of a relative’s home. Father did not want mother to leave, so he disabled the battery in her car. When father started to become aggressive toward mother, Paola—one of mother’s now-adult children—interposed herself between father

2 and mother. Father yanked a pair of glasses off Paola’s face, told her that he was “going to hurt [her],” and then crushed her glasses in his palm. When Samantha then got between mother and father and pushed him back from mother, father screamed at her not to “fucken [sic] touch [him]” and then punched Samantha with a closed fist in the forehead. Then he punched mother on the left side of her ear. Although mother reported father’s conduct to the…